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Powerstone
Powerstone is an enchantment spell that "infuses mana into an object for later use by a wizard." Magic Powerstones are discussed on page 20 of GURPS Magic, further discussed on page 69-70 including one-shot Manastones that cost only 1/4 to make (manastone quirks can't be related to recharge rates) M86 specifies that accelerate Time doesn't help them, since they go by outside rates. M69 discusses quirks but not particulars... M17 has a Quick and Dirty Enchantment example with Tubbs and Hawthorne. M13 explains how the Staff enchantment allows tapping stones in the staff without touching them. Colleges M70 talks about a lower energy cost if a powerstone can only be used to fuel magic from a specific college. It costs 60% of the usual cost, basically emulating the -40% "One College Only" limitation value on B67 for Magery. Some might get the impression reading this that knowing "Powerstone" allows for the creation of any variety of One-College Powerstones too, however M231's Appendix: Spell Table lists "One-College Powerstone" by itself, separately from Powerstone on M232, indicating it may have to be learned separately, and that the basic "Powerstone" spell can only create all-college powerstones. Whether or not OCP learned once could create OCPs of any college or just one college remains to be clarified. Recharging The time it takes to recover energy reduces as mana increases. Proximity to larger stones inhibits recharge, while proximity to same-size splits the energy amongst them. One-Collage Powerstones are cheaper in terms of energy to make, while ones limited to particular spells can store more energy (even moreso with ones where the energy to cast a spell can ONLY come from that stone) Charge Powerstone provided a trade off to recharging a powerstone now instead of waiting but it is not a free lunch.GURPS Magic pg 126 In GURPS Grimore Charge Powerstone could be enchanted into an item doubling its recharge rate though this too had its downside. Making Powerstones More Effective A "dedicated" Powerstone is a powerstone put into another item before it is enchanted. An "exclusive" Powerstone is similar to a "dedicated" Powerstone except the item can only be powered by the powerstone and not by the user. Efficiency Function is explained in an example on M70: :its energy, being specifically channeled, is used twice as efficiently. :A one-point dedicated Powerstone gives two points of energy :(but still recharges in one day in a normal-mana area). This means that you could recharge it with 1 energy and it would give back 2. The same is for exclusive: :exactly as for dedicated Powerstones, but the energy of an exclusive Powerstone is three times as efficient – i.e., a one-point exclusive Powerstone delivers three So these don't actually have higher capacities (they don't take double/triple the time to recharge them) but rather, give more efficient outputs. Since M126's "Recharge Powerstone" has a 1:3 ratio, it can be counteracted through the use of exclusive powerstones... In fact since high skill in magic reduces FP cost, this could create a net benefit in energy from experienced chargers. This is probably why Charge Powerstone has balancing aspects like delaying against future recharges, possibly creating quirks (normal fail) or exploding (crit fail). Of course, since no rolling is involved in No Nuisance Rolls, those risks are abated with skill 16+ and that perk. General Rule that has Setting Issues Per GURPS Magic "The cost to cast Powerstone is quadrupled if the item being enchanted has a value of less than $10xP^2 + $40xP, where P is the target capacity of the Powerstone." This 10P(P+4) is so insanely setting dependent that it is nearly meaningless. To take an example from Lost in Space's "Treasure of the Lost Planet" the treasure of a pirate from Betelguese is pig iron - because gold, silver, and even jewels on his homeworld are so common that buildings and even utensils are made with them. In Star Trek's "Catspaw" Kirk points out the Enterprise can make a ton of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires making them "valueless". One of the gag emotes by the female Draenei in World of Warcraft is "This planet has a tremendous supply of sandstone. The inhabitants must be wealthy beyond their dreams." On a practical level it is safe to ignore this rule as making high energy powerstones is hard enough without what at the end of the day an poorly thought out rule to the pile. Dungeon Fantasy replaced with Power Items as https://medium.com/@SJGames/dungeon-fantasy-designers-notes-4-it-s-magic-34d52835495a mentions Additional Information * Compleat Powerstone Roleplayer #18, February 1990 * "Powerstone Costs" - GURPS Magic 20 * Multiple spell success chart - for multiple castings of the Powerstone spell. See Also *Divided Magery, which like One-College Powerstones also relates to allocating energy reserves for the casting of one specific college. *Enchantment Costs *Manastone *Meditative Magic *Paut *Precision Recharger *Skills to Salvage Critical Failures **Stabilizing Skill References * GURPS Magic 69 Category:Rules Category:Thaumatology Category:Spells Category:Enchantments